Anyone But Him, Rose
by RedPandaPatronus
Summary: Ron suspects Rose is dating the person he least expected. The truth is more complicated.


Anyone but Him, Rose

Ron was busy arranging the place cards. He had offered to, Hermione was cooking and cleaning, and making everything perfect. They didn't often host parties (that was more Ginny's thing), but Hermione had said this time, she wanted to arrange her own birthday.

And what a birthday it would be! Hermione had not only invited the standard guests (the Potters, the George Weasleys and the Bill Weasleys), but had insisted that all the teenagers bring dates. Ron thought it sounded like more work, but Hermione wanted to see some new faces. Ron wondered if it was more about seeing what her nieces and nephews were up to, but he didn't voice that.

Ron sat the obvious place cards next to each other (Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin, James Potter and Holly McCarp, Lily Potter and Lorcan Scamander), but then he reached a problematic card. Bailey Whitecoat. Ron had never heard of this Bailey.

"She must be with Albus," he muttered, searching for Albus' card. Ron grinned, finding it at the bottom of the stack. Another card fell out as he arranged them. He glanced at the card, then gasped.

It read, in plain English: Scorpius Malfoy.

A Malfoy. Coming into his house. Who would dare? Was it one of his nieces? He flipped through the cards, and saw all of his nieces were paired. The only card standing alone was his daughter's.

Rose Weasley. His seventeen-year-old daughter, his little girl. He'd taught her how to ride a broom. Hell, he'd taught her how to talk. And now here she was, fraternizing with the Malfoy boy. He knew he couldn't be all bad, sure, but no way was he all _good_. If he was anything like his father, he was a slimy, bullying git.

How could he stop this from happening? The Malfoy boy couldn't come to their house. Harry's house, maybe, but Ron's? That wasn't the way it worked.

Should he tell Hermione? Nah, Hermione could get all "don't judge" on him. Harry would probably shrug and just let things happen. No, it would have to be his blood family, Ginny, or maybe George.

Ginny, he decided, would be the easiest option. Her children were close in age to his, she would understand.

Grabbing a handful of Floo Powder, Ron jumped in the fire. He came out in the Potter's living room, where Ginny was sitting reading a Quidditch magazine.

"Ginny. We need to talk. This is serious."

"Oh, really? What's up Ron?"

"Ginny, I-I think Rose is dating Scorpius Malfoy."

To Ron's horror, Ginny grinned, chuckling. "Where on earth would you get such an idea?"

"The place cards. Gin, one of them said Scorpius Malfoy."

"It must have been a prank. Lily made those place cards, you know."

"Ginny, I'm not so sure. There wasn't another card. It was Malfoy and Rose. That was all that was left."

Suddenly, Albus Potter came into the room through the kitchen door. "Uncle Ron, I promise you, Scorpius isn't dating Rose. He's in a pretty serious relationship with someone else."

"So he's cheating on her? I pound him into a pulp, I will."

"No." Albus smiled. "I swear, Scorpius and Rose don't go near each other. It must be a prank. Who did you say made the cards?"

"I think it was Lily."

"That'd do it. She's even cheekier than James."

"I'd believe it," Ron said, relieved. "I have to go finish setting the table. See you in an hour."

Ron went back through the Floo, came to the table, and threw out the Malfoy card. He left Rose's date's seat unlabeled.

An hour later, Ron found himself welcoming guests he knew and didn't know. Teddy and Victoire arrived arm in arm; they were already living together. His niece Roxy came with a dark haired young man who spoke like an American, his nephew Fred brought a tiny young woman with eyes like a doe. He began to see what Hermione meant about new faces. There would be a lot of youthful energy this evening, that was for sure.

A teenager with spiked hair and a round face arrived alone. Ron beamed, and led him to the unlabeled seat next to Rose. He and Rose struck up an animated conversation. Ron was happy to see his daughter so well matched, breathing a sigh of relief that there were no Malfoys around.

Just then, a blonde boy walked in the door. He looked like Draco had at that age.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here? My daughter already has a date." Ron glared, making it clear that he would take no nonsense. "Go home."

To Ron's annoyance, the boy smirked. "I'm not interested in your daughter, Mr. Weasley. She's beautiful and all that but—"

The Potters arrived in a group, James leading, Harry and Ginny in the middle, and Albus and Lily trailing behind. The Malfoy boy peaked around, trying to get a view of the back.

So the Malfoy boy was with Lily, Ron realized. He had no more right to be with her than Rose. "Malfoy, she's little. You can't—"

"Scorp, you made it!" Albus shouted, pushing his way to the front of his family. He pulled the Malfoy boy into a hug, which lasted longer than Ron ever would have hugged Harry.

The two boys held hands, grinning. Albus turned to Ron. "Scorp won't come near Rose. I told you he was already dating someone."

"But where's Bailey?" Ron wasn't following.

"Bailey Whitecoat? He's with Rose. Scorpius is with me."

"You're gay?" Ron blinked in surprise. He didn't have a problem with gay people; he just didn't have much experience with them.

"Duh, Uncle Ron. Thought you would have guessed that by now."

"Well, I didn't, Albus. Sorry…I guess. But why does it have to be the Malfoy kid?"

"What is it you don't like about me, Mr. Weasley?" Scorpius lifted his eyebrows, questioning. "Is it my relationship with your nephew or is it my father?"

"Well, there's uh…I mean...it's not that I don't like you personally. I just never expected to have a Malfoy in my house, and I thought you were taking advantage of my little girl, and your dad was a git when he was a kid."

"Yeah, he sure was, wasn't he? But that's got nothing to do with Albus and I, does it?"

Ron thought long and hard. "Er…no, I don't suppose it does."

"So let's go and celebrate Hermione's birthday, shall we?" Scorpius smiled politely. "I don't mind if we start over. I'm Scorpius."

"Ron." The three of them walked to the dining room. Ron felt the need to say something, so he turned to Scorpius and said: "You take good care of my nephew, you hear?"

Albus rolled his eyes. "I'm seventeen, Uncle Ron. I can take care of myself."

"We all, can Daddy," Rose called from the table. "We aren't kids anymore."

As Ron settled into his seat and started the delicious meal, he realized that none of them were kids anymore, not even Lily or Hugo. It wasn't long before he would be a grandfather. Not with these catches running around.


End file.
